I’m a little confused about the audio quantization features of Cubase.
It seems that you can quantize audio in 2 ways. Either you select your audio event and bring up the quantization float window, make your settings and (provided the hitpoints are set correctly) apply the desired amount of Q.
But you can also, in the sample editor, apply quantization via the Audiowarp panel, and this seems to yield slightly different results. Firstly, if you turn on “musical mode”, it disables (or removes) any previously applied quantize. But it doesn’t let you apply any normal quantize, only a swing value. So if you set a certain grid (say 16th) with a certain amount of swing, that’ll yield different results from applying the same grid and swing with the normal quantization panel.
Could anyone shed some light on this? Or explian what the advantage is to doing it with the Audiowarp panel, as the normal Q window seems to have more features (randomize and iQ modes)
Personally, I prefer to make timing corrections with manual warp, so I can visually verify each edit. Too many times, I’ve used an overall quantize only to find unintended timing issues in other areas of the piece.
What about using Tempo definition? I have very much the same question as to what is the best means of correcting timing. I’ve watched all the videos but in practice its more difficult to pull it off. In particular, I am currently working on a few songs where I have recorded a guitar 4 ways; DI, DI with pedals, and 2 mics on the cab. Now the Straight DI I can more easily edit however trying to affect all 4 tracks seems difficult to keep everything together. What I have found to be a decent alternative is to use the tempo definition function on the Straight DI, line up the tempo to be along with my pre-recorded click that I have to freeze so it isn’t effected by tempo changes. Then, I’m hoping that I can use the apply tempo definition to each of the events so that I can multi-track drums on top of it and have everything, more or less, line up. I can see drums being easier as their transients are much more apparent but I’m struggling on what method is most time efficient to use for multi-track guitar parts.
I also recall hearing that there is an extract hitpoints function which I would assume would be for you to be able to apply the same hitpoints to multiple sources where my be the holy grail for what I’m looking for but I’m still searching for that.
Update on my situation, so what I finally have found as a work around, if someone else has a better idea please let me know but this is what I have found that seems to be the best work around.
In my case, I used a direct from guitar di as my hit point settings. I then created markers via those hit points that I could then use for all of my guitar tracks I had recorded at the same time, ie; di post guitar pedals, and 2 mics on cab. Once the markers were made, I created a macro key command to select “next marker” then "split at cursor. " If you create a macro with about 100 of these key commands, one after another, you can easily split all of your selected tracks at the point where you have markers. You still have to use the hit point editor to make use your transients are selected appropriately but once done on one track it can be used to splice up any number of tracks.
After all applicable tracks are spliced, select the quantization panel under edit and adjust accordingly. As always experiment with different quantization settings for the best result.
I’ve spent a lot of time messing with what method works best for multiple guitar tracks ane this is what I have found. The macro takes a long time to create as you have to select each function one after the other and can not alter the sequence of tasks. But after the macro is created you are good to go, even if you have to execute the macro a number of times to splice the entire song. Once all tracks are quantized, I used the create cross fade to make the edits seem less. I hope this helps some of you.
After a lot of experimenting, my method still doesn’t provide enough flexibility. I feel it may be a great thing to use for drums though. I have to agree with flon_klar. I wish that there was an ability to apply hitpoints from one track to another and then be able to use audio warp on those tracks at once. In the long run I decided to audio warp my di the re-amp to have the timing corrected.
Have you tried the multitrack freewarp workaround?
Bit of faffing involved but possibly ideal for your multi guitar track setup until Steinberg get their act together and add this much requested feature.
Holy poop man, you are a God send for that referral. I used audacity for maybe a few weeks while I was in school and never thought I would use it again. Thank you so much!
